Hello, new shiny blog. I was actually going to repurpose an old blog I had called Foods and Health with a Blog Headline of Tannie-Style, but it soon became an abandoned post, and felt that the name could not be applied so easily to my ideas now. The other truth is that I got lazy, and would post on Facebook or Instagram instead. As I started to post more artwork and less personal things, I posted less and less food photos. And then I became overly conscious of the content I was posting. What if it didn’t jive with certain people? I’m also a so-called millennial that took a million pictures of my food. But… I stopped caring about that, and have promised that I would simply enjoy my food. The only time it’s really worthy to take pictures of your food in a restaurant, imho, is when you’re out traveling and want to record exactly what you do on you trip — for a photo album or scrap-booking journal.

And I have now realized how much a stress-relief hobby cooking is for me. When I was younger, cooking for other people was a joy, but now that I’m in my 30’s, cooking for myself is a joy. More so because some of the important people in my life are hard to please. I’ve come to realize that I can’t share my excitement for certain foods with everyone, even the ones you love. Especially because my boyfriend is an extremely picky eater. He’s particular about textures and flavors. I’ve actually cut out a lot of tomatoes in the time that we have been dating (and definitely now that we are living together and buying groceries together), but I hope to eventually bring it back again — when its not pizza sauce, or spaghetti sauce, which are the only allowed tomato-y things he can tolerate. Despite being a Korean-American, he doesn’t like all Korean foods. He hates eggplants, he’s not a fan of certain Asian-style desserts probably because of coconut milk/flavors, he doesn’t even like Vietnamese banh-mi (I was speechless when I found out about this). What he does love, unfortunately, hurts my diet in the long run, lasagna, grilled meat, beef, fatty pork. Well, this isn’t a relationship blog, but what I cook is almost half-dependent on whether or not he eats it too. Unless, its really for me, then he can starve — i.e. cook up some packaged ramen or frozen pizza.

Despite all this, I still make a lot of things I enjoy on occasion, and some definite food staples. These days, I bake a lot of gluten-free yeast breads. This was very difficult to learn at first, but thank you to the plethora of blogs out there sharing their ideas and recipes with the public. I’m able to feed myself and not die of hunger pangs, or a broke wallet. These days you can find so much allergy specific products in the supermarket, and even more so at specialty markets, such as Sprouts. I definitely shop there more because the price point is not too bad, since they have sales, and their fruits selections are some of the best.  Another place I really like is Roots, and hope the one in Corona, Ca opens up soon.

About my diet: I was first diagnosed with my wheat, corn, soybean, and peanut allergy the summer of 2014. I remember why it happened very clearly. The worst things in my life always come from some boy wreaking havoc. I had a terrible dinner at a ramen restaurant because I ate a super spicy ramen challenged that some douche I liked at the time really really wanted to do, and let’s just say, from that day forward, I got f*cked over for life. Women: if you think that its a bad idea for you to be going into an eating challenge and don’t know how you’ll come out, don’t put yourself in the line of fire for a dumb crush, no matter how much you liked him at the time. A few months later, I went to the doctor because I had non-stop digestive issues for the whole summer. They did got blood tests done, and I came out positive for said allergies.

One thing to be sure, I don’t have celiac. I have a great intolerance to eating the above mentioned allergens. What’s worse is that oftentimes corn is not even labeled as an allergy. And all the ingredients up their probably make up 50% of what the US puts into its food. What’s even worse is that Japanese food market and the US economy are so connected to each other, so invested that Japanese food is something I can almost always never have again. Minus boiled eggs, seaweed, rice, and sashimi (with no soy sauce). And don’t get me started with other Asian cuisines. The most safe I’ve had is probably Vietnamese and Thai food, they’re reliant on more fish sauce than soy sauce, and I’ve adapted fish sauce as a soy sauce substitute in a lot of dishes. These days, I use fish sauce plus a bit of coconut aminos.

I’m extremely intolerant to soy sauce, but actually, totally okay with soybean paste — I’ve made my own gluten free gochujang with good quality organic miso paste, and tofu –thank the heavens. I’m actually even intolerant to MSG, which is in so many Asian products, it’s a real nightmare since there’s probably a cult following on the stuff. There are times where I just eat things I’m allergic to because I’m so hungry, and there’s no other options. I’ve learned not to compromise on my diet anymore, and it sucks to say, I haven’t really eaten out in a restaurant with friends anymore because I’m never able to feel full. Peanuts is honestly, the most easy allergen to avoid because so many people are allergic to it, or severely allergic that people are afraid of causing someone to die upon ingestion.

All of the these allergies, however, are more like intolerance. I have a dairy intolerance too, but its mild. I can’t have more than a quarter of a cup of milk, and never any type of non-greek yogurt.  I tolerate milk better when its boiled, such as for chai tea or baking bread. I can eat lots of cheese, but there’s a limit to how much in a day; same goes for ice cream. One thing we have to be sure is that sometimes our body responds differently to many things. I think in some ways, my intolerance’s aren’t nearly as bad as some people have it, but its certainly made me look at food in a whole different way.